Facebook launches 'Soundmoji', emoticons with audio

On the eve of emoji day, tomorrow July 17, Facebook launched Soundmoji on Messenger.

They are icons that also integrate short audio clips, associated with the faces most used by users.

The novelty, available first on the iOS version of Messenger and then on Android, will be released globally within the next few weeks.

Initially there will be 27 Soundmojis, which will be expanded in the future.

As Facebook explains, Soundmojis allow users to send short audio clips in a Messenger chat such as cheers, crickets, drum rolls, laughter.

There will be audio clips from artists and TV series, as well as various famous films.

To send one of the 27 sound icons, just start a chat on Messenger and tap the smiley face.

In the next step you will have to select the speaker icon.

A new menu, with the collection of Soundmoji, will allow you to choose the one to send.

The emoji day, which falls every year on July 17, recalls the invention of the Japanese designer Shigetaka Kurita, considered the father of the pictograms that have become common today.

Over 20 years ago, Kurita created a set of 176 emojis using a 12x12 pixel grid.

The Museum of Modern Art in New York exhibits Kurita's original emoji set.

According to Emojipedia, a website that collects and catalogs all emojis, 217 new icons have been released this year.